How to...

 



  2. Even though Blue Tilapia are super hardy and resilient, you still must follow good fish keeping practices.  There are lots of sites on the web that will teach you how to be a good fish-keeper and give you a dep dive on Aquaponic needs and solutions.  So use this amazing time in digital technology to gather all of that yourself  To guide you a bit to start out, we provide an overview here, but Google for more details. 


  4. Here are the things you need to accomplish to grow healthy fish to eat.

  5. •Saving money and put some work up front to investment in something sustainable that will provide you and your family for a very long time...

  1. I know you are probably doing this to both have healthy meals and to save money.  Your first year will cost you a bit more to obtain the equipment and figure out what works best for your situation.  The second year is only initial fish and food.  The rest has been done!  so invest a little time and experience and you and your family can use this for the rest of your lives.  We can supply you with fry to get you started from here on out..


  1. •Timing - growing outside...

  1. If you are growing outside,  Nov thru Sept is a goods growth schedule up north, in the south you dont need to worry about it and in the mid states you need to worry a little.  Basically it will take your Tilapia 9-14 months to grow out to a good eating size.  So, for those of you up north, emill me early to get your fall orders in...   Even f you do not make the optimum window, you can practice now and still harvest fish in Sept.  Next year they will be even bigger


  1. •Clean water - Your fish NEED clean water!

  2. We have found that you need a biological filter and water changes for good results.   Even better results are when you can add worms and plants.  See Aquaponics below.


  1. •Aquaponics

  1. Now Aquaponics is a whole science unto itself, but if you can run your water with a small submersible pump through a gravel bed, full of tomatoes or other plants, you can clean the water and grow amazing veggies at the same time.   Google Aquaponics to find out more.


  1. Here is a very simple system that has all the basics: http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/single-barrel-ponics  We do a similar indoor winter design, except we use 2 barrels to give more room for more fish and plants.  Search “barrelponics” in google images for many many options!


  1. We use IBC Totes during the summer for our bigger production system.  Google images for “ibc tote aquaponics” for another virtually unlimited set of pics.


  1. Regardless of the approach you take, one note is that you should probably not stack your grow beds directly on top of your tanks...  We did this a lot and we always struggle to access the fish in an easy manner.  All of our new systems will have the grow beds at least 2 feet away to allow us to walk around the whole tank and have access to fish, gizmos, etc...



  2. •Dechlorinated Water

  3. Tap water , in almost every municipally supplied house, has chlorine in it.  Chlorine will kill your wonderfully beneficial bacteria whenever you add water to your system, you need to make sure there is no chlorine in it.  I would purchase a big bottle of dechlorinater.  There are many brands on the market and they all seem to do a reasonably good job.  You might want to do your own research or talk to your local fish keeper   Any time you add water to your system, put it in a 5 gallon bucket first, add dechlorinater and let set a few minutes.  I also mix the bucket, by taking a pitcher, dipping it in and pouring it back in the bucket to get a good mixing.  This also applies to when you are rinsing things to put into your system!


  5. •Rain Water

  6. For the last year, I have used a (couple of) food grade 55 gallon plastic barrel! to capture rainwater from my roof.  It is a bit uphill of my tanks and have created a portable filler and syphon to make water changes much easier.  Many people have great success with this.


  8. Even if you get little rain, it can be a time saver by filling it with a hose, using dechlorinater in it and the transfer is easier.  Whenever it rains, it is just an added bonus!:-)


  10. Again google your brains out for various options...  Ours was a very simple design we came up with ourselves, divert the down-spout and use PVC to overflow back into my drain...  Put a hose spigot with pipe threads into a TEE in the pipe.


  12. Notice:

  13. ✓The flexible pipe coming in at the top is from my rain downspout

  14. ✓The Barrel is actually upside down.

  15. ✓These barrels have two threaded caps.  One is exactly what is needed to screw a PVC connector into.

  16. ✓If your PVC is clean and tight, no need for PVC cement allowing tweaks.

  17. ✓There is a hole cut in the bottom (now the top) for the rainwater to come in...

  18. ✓The Spigot connects to a hose beneath the water column, to drain the whole system and not leave any standing water to get yucked up.

  19. ✓The PVC goes up, but is below the top of the barrel.  This stops the water from overflowing out the hole cut and goes down the PVC pipe back to the original drain.

  20. ✓That top PVC pipe has a slight angle to allow gravity to just work.

  21. ✓You can TEE off the bottom and pipe up into additional barrels if you want a bigger reserve. Dont even need a hole in other barrels


  1. •Warm Water

  2. Tilapia are a tropical fish liking water in the 80’s.  You will get the fastest growth with this temperature.  Be careful to no go too warm.  Ad oxygen does not like warmer water , so you will need lots of bubbles!


  4. •Feeding

  5. Feed properly and often.  3-5 times a day what they consume in 5 minutes.  This is tough to get right, as they are growing.   Also the portion size will get larger.  Grinding pellets, made for adults works very well for fry.  Get an automated feeder, as consistent feeding will help you optimize your fishes’ growth.


  7. •Traveling

  8. So what do you do if you need to go away?  Best thing I can tell you is, unless you leave them in the hands of someone who does understand fish keeping, just don’t feed them until you return.   They can stand a week or a bit more without any food.  Otherwise you tank might soil while you are away.  Do a water change before you leave and when you return.


  10. •Loss of Power

  11. One of the biggest needs for your fish is oxygen.  You probably need a backup air supply.   There are these little air pumps that both run on battery and plug into your AC power.  Now they don’t run continuously, on AC power, they just monitor it.    When it looses AC power, it runs on battery.  So have one of these per tank (2 for a big tank???) in addition to an AC powered one.  We don’t generally promote specific vendors, but we only know of one and it is sometimes hard to find.  Search for “Penn Plax Silent Air B11”


  13. •Crowding... 

  14. When you receive your fry and they are small a small aquarium will do you well.  If you purchase 1 or two, they will grow into your tank nicely.  if you buy more to grow as food, they you will likely want to gradually get a bigger tank.   So why not just start bigger?  That is what we suggest


  16. If you are really serious and want to grow outside (at least int he summer) a food grade Plastic IBC tote is a great choice.  It will last forever and can be moved around between seasons (or if you have a fork lift ful of water;-)  you can use another tote of the top of one as a grow bed for your veggies.   Way to many good youtube videos n this one.  Check them out.


  18. Remember that you might want to invest the first year to be able to run your setup free for years to come.  So...  For about 200$ you can DIY a nice setup that will not be too small for a typical family.


  20. Also garage sales, craigslist are a great way to get some inexpensive tanks!


  22. Lastly garden ponds also make good grow out facilities.  Just watch out if your pond empties into streams/other places!!!!  Especially where tilapia can overwinter.  That would be very bad for your local environments!  If you have any questions, look to your state fish and wildlife agencies for best practices!


  24. •Bacteria 

  25. if you are starting new, with fry your bacteria will build up and do fine.  If you are starting a new filter, or transferring fish into a new home, you want to make sure you bring a bunch of bacteria along for the ride...


  27. •Research

  28. We might sound like a broken record, but these are a few things to get you started.  Google, Ping and/or Yahoo things to help you along your way to free fresh  




 
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